Instadocs: Jane Doe v. Cornell (2026) Movie Script
[machines whirring]
[dramatic music playing]
[Sophia] You never know what is going
to ignite something in someone else.
You never know.
[female reporter 1]
A New York prosecutor is reopening
the investigation into allegations
that a Cornell student
was gang raped at a fraternity house.
A former student sued Cornell,
the Chi Phi fraternity,
and seven of its members.
[female reporter 2] The lawsuit only
identifies the victim as Jane Doe.
[Kathy] The coverage
by the Cornell student newspaper
really put a spotlight on something
that had not been covered that much.
And then it just sort of exploded.
[music intensifies]
[female reporter 3] Cornell has now
become the center
of this white-hot international spotlight.
I had so many questions. I just wanted
to get a picture of what happened.
This case is disturbing.
The details are graphic.
The allegations are horrific.
My first reaction was, "How disgusting."
[female reporter 4]
According to Jane Doe's testimony,
she said, "I felt like bait."
"I felt like lions around me."
The outrage came in waves.
This is not an isolated incident.
-I am Jane Doe.
-I am Jane Doe.
I am Jane Doe.
And I'm not the only one.
-I am Jane Doe.
-I am Jane Doe.
[Thomas] She thought this institution
was going to fulfill her dream
and instead it became her nightmare.
She reported it
and no arrests were made.
Jane Doe's story is a lie
and Cornell deserves an apology.
Why do we have to go
right to, "She's a victim?"
She gave consent.
Consent to two men is not consent
to everybody in the fraternity house.
How do we expect students
to navigate this?
[female student]
I've never seen people so angry.
People are taking
this Cornell 7 case way too far.
[female reporter 5]
Jane Doe's receiving death threats.
-This university building vandalized.
-[Sophia] This has to stop.
None of us expected it to be like this.
[protesters] Justice for Jane Doe!
Justice for Jane Doe!
[overlapping chatter]
[music concludes]
[Cereese]
Can you guys edit the D.A. article?
-I made a ton of edits on it.
-I can look at it again.
[Cereese] Um, there's some stuff
that I left that needs
to be, like, filled in.
[overlapping chatter]
[Sophia] Is there any more pizza left?
-[male colleague] R.I.P?
-R.I.P. [laughs]
[music concludes]
[Sophia] The paper is the longest
continuously independent
college daily in the nation.
So, we were founded in 1880,
which was 15 years
after Cornell University was founded.
So, most of the buildings you actually see
on campus is newer than the paper.
We are independent editorially
and financially from the university.
[Cereese] It allows us
to report completely honestly
and be a very open source
of information for students.
[suspenseful music playing]
[Cereese] Back in 2024,
we received a crime alert on November 8th.
There was a complaint
about sexual assault by several men
at the 100 block of Edgemore Lane,
which is where
the Chi Phi fraternity is located.
[Sophia] I was a freshman at the time.
I was about two months
into my Cornell journey.
I just saw the sexual assault alerts
and sent a screenshot
to my mom, like, Cornell is living up
to the American university
kind of stereotype.
[Cereese] I was in class
and I remember getting a lot of texts.
People were just talking immediately
because it was just so alarming.
We had all these questions about it.
We kind of realized
that there's something there,
like it's worth continuing to pursue.
So, it was kind of
on my radar for a while.
I started reaching out to Jane Doe.
I told her I want to write
a story on what happened.
So, we started speaking and she told me
that she was going to file a lawsuit.
A former Cornell University student
filed a lawsuit
alleging that she
was drugged and gang-raped
by several fraternity members in 2024.
[female reporter]
The former student sued Cornell,
the Chi Phi fraternity
and seven of its members.
[Cereese] Jane Doe did trust The Sun.
She spoke to us
and gave The Sun the only quote.
[dramatic music playing]
So, we were able to give
a little bit of her perspective
into that initial article
that we published.
The article walked through
step by step what the lawsuit claimed.
Jane Doe went from a sorority event
to a bar in downtown Ithaca,
according to the lawsuit,
before making her way
up to the Chi Phi house,
where she was texting
with one of the defendants.
He offered her a beer
and they danced on the floor.
He asked if she wanted
to have a threesome
with him and another member
of the fraternity.
According to the lawsuit,
they went upstairs.
She was allegedly coerced
into taking drugs, including ketamine,
and she was already very intoxicated.
And they started engaging
in sexual activity,
which at first she said was consensual
and then became unconsensual
as more brothers were invited upstairs
on a Snapchat group chat.
One of the defendants
named in her lawsuit
sent a message
in the fraternity chapter's Snapchat group
saying there was
a woman upstairs for free sex.
[male reporter] A photo of Jane Doe
from the bedroom, writing,
"Boys, come whip it out."
There were like 50-some people
on that Snapchat.
And not a single one stopped it.
[Sophia] It was so graphic
and it was just really important
for me to personify these individuals.
And so we decided to list the names
of the civil defendants.
There was no hesitation
within the editorial team.
We just wanted
to make sure that people knew
that these were individuals
who had been in their classes
that they could have possibly known.
But none of us
expected it to be like this.
There was this decision the newspaper made
to print the names of the accused men.
We need due process.
We can't just ruin people's lives
based on allegations.
This is still a case
where they are innocent.
They haven't been charged.
We did not want to sugarcoat anything,
we didn't want to omit details.
We wanted to provide the community
with as much transparency
as we wish we had from the university.
[camera shutter clicks, tape rolling]
[male narrator]
I should like you to join me
in looking at our great institution,
Cornell University.
Cornell has been at the very center
of the stream of ideas and great events
which have brought
the world to where it is.
What is the secret of Cornell's rapid rise
into the front rank of great universities?
-Oh, my God!
-Oh, my God!
Oh, my God!
-[exclaims]
-[male narrator] If there is a secret,
I suspect it is the talent for finding
the proper mix of ideals and practice,
the blend of public and private
-of freedom and responsibility.
-[students cheering, chattering]
[music concludes]
I'm a senior at Cornell.
I am a member of a fraternity on campus,
and I used to be
a president of a fraternity.
Being an Ivy League school,
Cornell is incredibly rigorous
academically.
But the issue with the culture at Cornell
is that we're incredibly isolated.
There's just nothing to do on campus.
[dramatic music playing]
Fraternities provide a place to socialize,
a place to build a community.
Most people see it as a brotherhood,
but Greek life has a problem.
I think the problem comes
from the lack of accountability
and the education amongst fraternities
about building better men.
That is what
fraternities were initially created to do,
and they're not doing that exactly.
What they're perpetuating
is just a culture in some ways,
on a nationwide scale
is a culture of partying,
a culture of drinking.
Because of that culture,
it does create those
I wouldn't call them few bad apples,
but it does create the scenarios
that we've seen at Cornell
and at other schools, too.
-[music concludes]
-[distant siren wailing]
[Amanda] I have been working with victims
of sexual assault for just over 15 years,
including time
at an Ivy League institution.
People will say,
"You should talk to parents
who are sending kids to college
about the prevalence of sexual assault."
I agree with that, and I think
that's an important conversation to have,
but it is hard to talk about this.
[dramatic music playing]
[Amanda] Parents sending students
to universities have an expectation
that those students will be safe
or that schools will keep them
as safe as possible
while they're on campus.
For students, it's an exploratory time.
It's their first time
living away from home.
We see students doing things
often for the first time,
exploring substances,
or alcohol, or drugs.
rushing for sororities and fraternities.
This brings them into new experiences
and brings them into new places.
I'm still surprised
by how little people know
about how prevalent
sexual violence is on campus.
One in five undergraduate women
report having experienced
sexual assault in some form.
You see much higher rates
for people who are associated
with Greek organizations.
The numbers at Cornell
do seem a bit higher.
And when students come forward
with a report of sexual assault,
they are supposed
to be given a range of options.
And one of those options
is to report to law enforcement.
On November 8th, 2024, Jane Doe went
to the campus police department.
She had two days of interviews
with an intake officer
who conducted an investigation.
And then when
they brought their investigation
to the Tompkins County District Attorney,
he said criminal charges weren't pursued
because the evidence that he was given
was insufficient
to constitute sexual assault.
[female reporter 1] The District attorney
declining to prosecute
after he said campus police
only sent him a six-page summary
of Jane Doe's allegations,
which her attorney says
omitted her explicit allegation of rape.
We are learning exclusive details
about what the alleged Cornell rape victim
told campus police in 2024.
She says, quote, "I can say
with 100 percent confidence I was raped."
[Thomas] When she goes to CUPD
she was following the procedure.
She gave at least four
to five hours of testimony.
She also provided her medical records
from when she went to Cornell Health
two days after the assault.
And they had the group chat,
which invited members of the fraternity.
That prompted an investigation.
And she thought that investigation
was ongoing up until very recently.
She thought they were still investigating.
They were looking for evidence,
running down leads and all that stuff.
And what we know now
is that they closed the case
and they weren't doing anything.
I mean, just to think that an entire case
could be distilled down
to a six-page police report
and that's it, to me is just shocking.
And the one thing this case has taught us
is that while you might have
a great academic experience,
your safety
is not being looked after in the way
that I think most parents expect
when they drive their kids off to college
for the first day of freshman year.
My first reaction was
[grunts] "How disgusting."
"Not again," you feel like, "not again."
I went to Syracuse University.
There were a series of rapes
our first week on campus,
and there was
a sense of anxiety all around,
and you don't tell your parents that.
You don't call home and say,
"I'm a little worried walking to class."
It's not new,
it's been going on a long time,
and the culture has just never changed.
In this case, the scale of this, you know,
the number of people involved
and the repugnancy
of her allegations would have drawn you
to the local police department
fairly quickly.
Campus police, technically
they are deputized by the local police
to function as
a policing organization on a campus.
But one can very quickly see
that there could be a conflict
because you're also protecting
the reputation of your boss,
the university.
[male interviewer]
Is it your belief that Cornell's police
was influenced by conflict
of interest in this case?
No, I have no evidence of that.
And I'm not saying that
that was necessarily the case.
But in a situation like this,
you want to make sure
that people believe in the process.
If you go to the NYPD,
they're employees of the city of New York.
Um, the Cornell police is different
because they're employees
of Cornell University.
They're not independent.
They're employees.
[female interviewer] Does Jane Doe believe
that there is a conflict of interest?
I think Jane Doe does.
I think her family does.
And I certainly do.
I called the university president
and said, I want to have
an independent investigation.
I want outside counsel to look at
all the actions of the university.
When the Tompkins County District Attorney
announced that he is reopening the case,
he pointed to Jane Doe's statement
and said it did not establish
that a crime had occurred.
But new reporting raises serious questions
about the information
his office relied upon
when it made that decision.
That's why I believe this case demands
a special prosecutor
who will provide a fresh
and thorough review of all the facts,
including the information
that has recently come to light.
Prove to me and the public
and the campus and this young woman
that everything you did was correct.
[music concludes]
[Amanda] People will say, "Well,
why didn't law enforcement handle this?"
That's a great question.
Why didn't law enforcement handle this?
[soft dramatic music playing]
In truth, Jane Doe's experience
with law enforcement is the norm.
The rates of prosecution
are so incredibly low
because the burden of proof required
in a criminal prosecution is so high.
So there's also a world in which
there is a very real traumatic event
that a school can and should address.
And there's not a criminal prosecution
that's going to move forward.
And so another option is to bring forward
a formal complaint
with the university with Title IX.
Title IX is a civil rights law
and it applies to educational institutions
that receive federal funding
and it prohibits
discrimination based on sex.
It has applications in different areas,
admissions, athletics,
all forms of sexual harassment.
There was guidance issued
by the Obama administration.
Today we're taking another important step
with a focus on our college campuses.
[Amanda] It essentially said,
you have an obligation
to respond
to sexual assault under Title IX.
And the school's process
is not intended to decide,
did you violate the law?
It's intended to look at
whether you violated the school rules
that you agreed to
when you joined the school community.
This is not ever intended
to replace a criminal prosecution.
But despite the fact
that this is an educational process
it might be the only process
that a student survivor has to be heard.
We know Jane Doe did file
a Title IX complaint with the university.
But a lot of the details
of the Title IX investigation are private,
and so the university
is not allowed to share that.
If you were to ask the question
of what do we know
about the Title IX process
of Jane Doe two weeks ago,
-we would have no answer.
-[suspenseful music playing]
Tonight, The New York Times, obtaining
more than 1,000 pages of material
[Cereese] The New York Times obtained
the internal Cornell
Title IX investigation.
Photographs, texts, emails,
and interviews.
[female reporter 1]
According to The New York Times,
the school expelled
the two fraternity members
who first invited Jane Doe to that house.
[female reporter 2] Two more suspended.
One who had already graduated
was barred from campus.
Two were found not to be responsible
for sexual misconduct.
She wound up leaving the school
uh, while at least some of these young men
were apparently allowed to continue.
[Cereese] So many people
empathize with Jane Doe
and this case and this situation
opens a wound for them.
Common reaction is,
"This happened to me too."
[Kacey] I think actually
those would be in here.
-Oh, yeah, they're in here.
-[music concludes]
I I really haven't looked
at these in forever.
Hearing about Jane Doe,
it was very overwhelming.
I feel like I'm kind of having
to, like, re-grieve things
that I already grieved.
When I was going through my trial
and just after it happened,
I just felt a lot of inexplicable anger.
And I feel like I don't realize
I'm thinking something
until I'm writing it down.
Like, things felt a little bit
more real and less in my head.
-[somber music playing]
-Oh, my God, this one is about Title IX.
"Title IX
was one long gaslighting session."
[laughs]
[Kacey] "For a whole year,
I felt like I was screaming
into a crowd that couldn't hear me."
The day before my Title IX hearing
I was writing my victim impact statement.
I just didn't know what to say.
Maybe I'll read this paragraph.
"I communicated physically
and verbally and over text
that I did not want to do anything."
"I did not choose to get raped,
but I did experience the consequences."
This is every document
that was used or involved in my case.
I feel like this is a physical embodiment
of just me pleading
for people to believe me.
I was a freshman.
Two weeks after it happened
was when I decided to report.
The first person I worked with
was hired directly
by Cornell's Title IX office.
He was like, "So you can go to Title IX,
or you can go to the police,
or you cannot report."
But then immediately after,
he would list all these ways
going through Title IX was easier.
Obviously it's not easy no matter what,
but to the ears of a 19-year-old girl
who was very lost and hurt, and confused,
it was presented in a way
that Title IX looked like
it made the most sense.
My Title IX process was almost a year.
Some people just wait a year
to get a date for a hearing.
There's probably like,
26,000 students at Cornell.
And at the time
when I was going through the process,
there were two victim advocates.
They were spread so thin.
You don't know when your decision comes.
-It kind of just pops up in your email.
-[suspenseful music playing]
There's a link attached that says
you can download the verdict here.
The report said that they had
found him responsible for sexual assault.
And there was kind of like
this like sense of relief
that I was believed.
And then I got to the part
where there are the sanctions.
He had a written reprimand,
a no-contact order.
He was on disciplinary probation
for, it says a year,
but he graduated in two months.
So it in effect was two months.
And then he had to do
a directed study that involved
writing a reflection paper.
In my verdict,
the language for their rationale
was he didn't seem malicious.
I was hoping
he would get suspended or expelled.
You know, he gets to graduate.
He's gonna start his career
and he could just have remembered it as
a bad night, whereas I I don't get that.
I just felt like,
what did I do all of that for?
[music concludes]
[birds chirping]
I think what we have to acknowledge
is Title IX procedures are not intended
to make a survivor feel better.
-[dramatic music playing]
-[Amanda] Some people think
it is educational and that the sanctions
should be largely educational.
And so the process
is often unsatisfactory.
And so are nearly all systems
of accountability that victims go through.
I think if people are upset
by Cornell's response
in this particular case of Jane Doe,
then what they're truly upset
with is is with Title IX.
Because it does look
like, overall, Cornell complied
with the Title IX regulations.
And in fairness, the process
moved actually quite quickly
for one that involved
as many students as this.
From what I understand,
it was quite a robust investigation.
Multiple hearings, hundreds of pages
of evidence were gathered.
[female reporter] Cornell investigators
conducted more than 50 interviews
with 32 witnesses.
The fact that Cornell
expelled two students
and suspended two others
shows that they realized
that this was a big case
and that there was severe misconduct.
We don't see expulsions
as an outcome in a lot of cases.
So maybe the school did,
for the most part,
what it is required to do.
[students chattering]
I guess then the question is,
is is that enough?
-[students cheering]
-[male student] I think everyone here
has gotten a better education
of the Title IX process.
-The process sucks.
-[students cheering]
[male student]
The process is harmful for survivors.
[female reporter] Anger and backlash
are building at Cornell University.
[male reporter] Thousands of students,
faculty, and community members
demanding justice for Jane Doe.
[student protesters] Justice for Jane Doe!
Justice for Jane Doe!
-No justice!
-No peace!
-No justice!
-No peace!
[Jane] The general kind of
consensus among most
of the students is that,
"Oh, you know, you should file Title IX,
but don't expect much."
[female student] We at Cornell,
we say enough is enough,
and we demand justice for Jane Doe.
[cheering]
Hearing and reading Jane Doe's case
the last couple weeks,
it's like I knew Jane Doe's experiences
like all too well.
I was sexually assaulted on campus.
Seeing so many
different people come together,
it showed me that I wasn't alone.
[protesters cheering]
Justice for Jane Doe!
Every single person
has either experienced personally
or knows somebody
who's experienced something like this.
[Paul Ortiz] It's not just about Jane Doe.
It's about what happened
here five years ago, 20, 30 years ago.
Sexual assault is a perennial problem
at Cornell, and the students
and the faculty are asking,
"When is this going to stop?"
[protesters cheering]
[Jane] Our administration
can't just, you know,
only care about these issues
when it's something that
they feel pressure about.
They can't only be responding now
because they're under the pressure
of national news.
[protesters cheering]
Jane Doe felt really let down
by the university.
She didn't feel supported.
[dramatic music playing]
And so she wrote a letter to the faculty
about when the president
of her sorority spoke
to the president
of the university about it.
And his reaction,
instead of being concerned,
expressing any concern for for Jane was,
"Well, why didn't she go
to the police sooner?"
This was how he reacted back
then when it was a fresh issue
and he could have really done something.
He could have reached out
to the police to find out what's going on.
He could have reached out
to the district attorney
to find out what's going on.
But the fact is,
by his own admission,
he didn't do anything.
[female reporter] Michael Kotlikoff
telling the New York Times
he never followed up with her
or tried finding out
if the accused men had been punished.
Now, he's under heavy fire.
His institution is under heavy fire.
[female reporter] For the first time,
Kotlikoff offering a formal apology.
What happened to Jane Doe
in 2024 is deeply disturbing.
[female reporter]
Kotlikoff acknowledging missteps
in his administration's handling
of the case.
My heart aches when I think
of what she experienced.
The university president put out
a statement this morning.
It acknowledges what he calls
a deeply troubling culture of alcohol
and drug abuse on campus.
[Thomas] She thought this institution
was going to set her on a path
and fulfill her dream.
And instead it became her nightmare.
This is probably a first for her.
She's probably thrilled to be so admired.
You can't revoke consent
two years after that.
[Thomas] People said
a lot of nasty stuff online.
Regret over your horrendous behavior
is not rape.
She's gone through hell
for the last two years.
The last month has made that far worse.
She started getting texts.
Then she started getting threats.
And then I hear
there'd been a swatting event.
This person called the local police,
said that somebody
was being murdered in her house
and the police rolled up
with assault rifles.
Her father had to come out
and explain once again
to the SWAT team, "Hey,
she's Jane Doe and people
are calling in false reports."
There were guns put in her friend's face,
her brother's face, her father's face.
It's scary.
This has gone too far.
It's really gone too far.
It's a fucking mess.
There have been multiple people
online targeting random dudes
saying that they're secretly
one of the Cornell 7.
Dox all the motherfuckers
that were on that Snapchat fucking thread.
I've been doxxed, threatened
to be raped and killed, and my family.
-It's out of control.
-That's ridic--
The mob will ruin a man's name
because the mob just wants blood.
We all stand with Jane Doe,
but there's just been a huge pushback.
It's gotten scary.
That's why I'm not revealing my name.
I know people who are getting threats
who have no part of this.
People who are not in Greek life,
people who were not here two years ago.
And yet, because they're a Cornellian,
they're getting threatened.
And that's not right.
All of a sudden,
it went from the Cornell 7
to the Cornell 26,000.
We were all somehow complicit
in this failure by our administration.
[male reporter] Tonight, a drastic step
at Cornell University.
New fallout from the sexual assault
controversy at Cornell.
I just see my group chat
with my fraternity blow up.
People are freaking out.
People are angry.
Cornell University announcing
that it is now suspending
all fraternity social events
for the rest of the school year.
I threw my phone across the room.
I was livid.
People are upset that this happened.
Frustrated with
the administration's response.
Yes, there is some blame
to be put on fraternities.
Absolutely. Like, there's
no question about that.
There needs to be reform.
But why are we discussing
this two years later?
Why did the institutions
that were supposed to protect Jane Doe
and investigate Jane Doe's allegations
seem to all fail?
And why is that failure
being put on the fraternities?
[chattering]
[senior male student] This blanket ban
was all performative at the end of the day
because the parties are not ending.
They're just going elsewhere.
A blanket suspension
is not the way that you fix a cultural
or any sort of problem.
[music concludes]
[Amanda] We should all hear
this case and be horrified.
[somber music playing]
[Amanda] But it doesn't shock me.
I think about Emma
at Columbia and the performance art.
[Emma] I will be carrying
this dorm room mattress
with me everywhere I go for as long
as I attend
the same school as my rapist.
[female reporter] She lugged
that mattress across the stage
as the university president
turned away from her.
I think about Chanel Miller and the case
involving Brock Turner at Stanford.
[male reporter 1]
Where swimmer Brock Turner was convicted
of sexually assaulting a woman
while she lay unconscious.
[male reporter 2] Brock Turner was freed
after only serving three months
of a six-month sentence.
[Amanda] Obviously, the Me Too movement
had this incredible impact
on survivors coming forward
and telling their story.
The right to a life
[female student]
Thank you for your courage, Jane.
[protesters cheering]
[Amanda]
There are these spikes in attention
and we do take some steps forward,
but so often
the backlash puts us right back
to where we started.
-[protesters cheering]
-[dramatic music playing]
[Cereese] Oh, wait, what?
Is this to everyone?
[Sophia]
I love that people still send mail.
[Cereese] Guess this is pizza money?
[Sophia] Yeah, pizza for everyone.
-Wow.
-[Cereese] What?
She signed "Jane Doe."
This is so many different people.
Oh.
-They're, like, all Jane Does.
-[music concludes]
[Cereese] Despite several instances
of real, real negativity,
there has been so much support for us.
It really puts into perspective
what we're doing
and that our coverage is reaching people.
I don't think,
especially in the near future,
that we're going to revert back
to how it was at Cornell.
I don't know what is going to change,
but the momentum on campus
I don't think is something
that's going to die out.
[overlapping chatter]
[soft dramatic music playing]
[music concludes]
[theme music playing]
[music concludes]
[dramatic music playing]
[Sophia] You never know what is going
to ignite something in someone else.
You never know.
[female reporter 1]
A New York prosecutor is reopening
the investigation into allegations
that a Cornell student
was gang raped at a fraternity house.
A former student sued Cornell,
the Chi Phi fraternity,
and seven of its members.
[female reporter 2] The lawsuit only
identifies the victim as Jane Doe.
[Kathy] The coverage
by the Cornell student newspaper
really put a spotlight on something
that had not been covered that much.
And then it just sort of exploded.
[music intensifies]
[female reporter 3] Cornell has now
become the center
of this white-hot international spotlight.
I had so many questions. I just wanted
to get a picture of what happened.
This case is disturbing.
The details are graphic.
The allegations are horrific.
My first reaction was, "How disgusting."
[female reporter 4]
According to Jane Doe's testimony,
she said, "I felt like bait."
"I felt like lions around me."
The outrage came in waves.
This is not an isolated incident.
-I am Jane Doe.
-I am Jane Doe.
I am Jane Doe.
And I'm not the only one.
-I am Jane Doe.
-I am Jane Doe.
[Thomas] She thought this institution
was going to fulfill her dream
and instead it became her nightmare.
She reported it
and no arrests were made.
Jane Doe's story is a lie
and Cornell deserves an apology.
Why do we have to go
right to, "She's a victim?"
She gave consent.
Consent to two men is not consent
to everybody in the fraternity house.
How do we expect students
to navigate this?
[female student]
I've never seen people so angry.
People are taking
this Cornell 7 case way too far.
[female reporter 5]
Jane Doe's receiving death threats.
-This university building vandalized.
-[Sophia] This has to stop.
None of us expected it to be like this.
[protesters] Justice for Jane Doe!
Justice for Jane Doe!
[overlapping chatter]
[music concludes]
[Cereese]
Can you guys edit the D.A. article?
-I made a ton of edits on it.
-I can look at it again.
[Cereese] Um, there's some stuff
that I left that needs
to be, like, filled in.
[overlapping chatter]
[Sophia] Is there any more pizza left?
-[male colleague] R.I.P?
-R.I.P. [laughs]
[music concludes]
[Sophia] The paper is the longest
continuously independent
college daily in the nation.
So, we were founded in 1880,
which was 15 years
after Cornell University was founded.
So, most of the buildings you actually see
on campus is newer than the paper.
We are independent editorially
and financially from the university.
[Cereese] It allows us
to report completely honestly
and be a very open source
of information for students.
[suspenseful music playing]
[Cereese] Back in 2024,
we received a crime alert on November 8th.
There was a complaint
about sexual assault by several men
at the 100 block of Edgemore Lane,
which is where
the Chi Phi fraternity is located.
[Sophia] I was a freshman at the time.
I was about two months
into my Cornell journey.
I just saw the sexual assault alerts
and sent a screenshot
to my mom, like, Cornell is living up
to the American university
kind of stereotype.
[Cereese] I was in class
and I remember getting a lot of texts.
People were just talking immediately
because it was just so alarming.
We had all these questions about it.
We kind of realized
that there's something there,
like it's worth continuing to pursue.
So, it was kind of
on my radar for a while.
I started reaching out to Jane Doe.
I told her I want to write
a story on what happened.
So, we started speaking and she told me
that she was going to file a lawsuit.
A former Cornell University student
filed a lawsuit
alleging that she
was drugged and gang-raped
by several fraternity members in 2024.
[female reporter]
The former student sued Cornell,
the Chi Phi fraternity
and seven of its members.
[Cereese] Jane Doe did trust The Sun.
She spoke to us
and gave The Sun the only quote.
[dramatic music playing]
So, we were able to give
a little bit of her perspective
into that initial article
that we published.
The article walked through
step by step what the lawsuit claimed.
Jane Doe went from a sorority event
to a bar in downtown Ithaca,
according to the lawsuit,
before making her way
up to the Chi Phi house,
where she was texting
with one of the defendants.
He offered her a beer
and they danced on the floor.
He asked if she wanted
to have a threesome
with him and another member
of the fraternity.
According to the lawsuit,
they went upstairs.
She was allegedly coerced
into taking drugs, including ketamine,
and she was already very intoxicated.
And they started engaging
in sexual activity,
which at first she said was consensual
and then became unconsensual
as more brothers were invited upstairs
on a Snapchat group chat.
One of the defendants
named in her lawsuit
sent a message
in the fraternity chapter's Snapchat group
saying there was
a woman upstairs for free sex.
[male reporter] A photo of Jane Doe
from the bedroom, writing,
"Boys, come whip it out."
There were like 50-some people
on that Snapchat.
And not a single one stopped it.
[Sophia] It was so graphic
and it was just really important
for me to personify these individuals.
And so we decided to list the names
of the civil defendants.
There was no hesitation
within the editorial team.
We just wanted
to make sure that people knew
that these were individuals
who had been in their classes
that they could have possibly known.
But none of us
expected it to be like this.
There was this decision the newspaper made
to print the names of the accused men.
We need due process.
We can't just ruin people's lives
based on allegations.
This is still a case
where they are innocent.
They haven't been charged.
We did not want to sugarcoat anything,
we didn't want to omit details.
We wanted to provide the community
with as much transparency
as we wish we had from the university.
[camera shutter clicks, tape rolling]
[male narrator]
I should like you to join me
in looking at our great institution,
Cornell University.
Cornell has been at the very center
of the stream of ideas and great events
which have brought
the world to where it is.
What is the secret of Cornell's rapid rise
into the front rank of great universities?
-Oh, my God!
-Oh, my God!
Oh, my God!
-[exclaims]
-[male narrator] If there is a secret,
I suspect it is the talent for finding
the proper mix of ideals and practice,
the blend of public and private
-of freedom and responsibility.
-[students cheering, chattering]
[music concludes]
I'm a senior at Cornell.
I am a member of a fraternity on campus,
and I used to be
a president of a fraternity.
Being an Ivy League school,
Cornell is incredibly rigorous
academically.
But the issue with the culture at Cornell
is that we're incredibly isolated.
There's just nothing to do on campus.
[dramatic music playing]
Fraternities provide a place to socialize,
a place to build a community.
Most people see it as a brotherhood,
but Greek life has a problem.
I think the problem comes
from the lack of accountability
and the education amongst fraternities
about building better men.
That is what
fraternities were initially created to do,
and they're not doing that exactly.
What they're perpetuating
is just a culture in some ways,
on a nationwide scale
is a culture of partying,
a culture of drinking.
Because of that culture,
it does create those
I wouldn't call them few bad apples,
but it does create the scenarios
that we've seen at Cornell
and at other schools, too.
-[music concludes]
-[distant siren wailing]
[Amanda] I have been working with victims
of sexual assault for just over 15 years,
including time
at an Ivy League institution.
People will say,
"You should talk to parents
who are sending kids to college
about the prevalence of sexual assault."
I agree with that, and I think
that's an important conversation to have,
but it is hard to talk about this.
[dramatic music playing]
[Amanda] Parents sending students
to universities have an expectation
that those students will be safe
or that schools will keep them
as safe as possible
while they're on campus.
For students, it's an exploratory time.
It's their first time
living away from home.
We see students doing things
often for the first time,
exploring substances,
or alcohol, or drugs.
rushing for sororities and fraternities.
This brings them into new experiences
and brings them into new places.
I'm still surprised
by how little people know
about how prevalent
sexual violence is on campus.
One in five undergraduate women
report having experienced
sexual assault in some form.
You see much higher rates
for people who are associated
with Greek organizations.
The numbers at Cornell
do seem a bit higher.
And when students come forward
with a report of sexual assault,
they are supposed
to be given a range of options.
And one of those options
is to report to law enforcement.
On November 8th, 2024, Jane Doe went
to the campus police department.
She had two days of interviews
with an intake officer
who conducted an investigation.
And then when
they brought their investigation
to the Tompkins County District Attorney,
he said criminal charges weren't pursued
because the evidence that he was given
was insufficient
to constitute sexual assault.
[female reporter 1] The District attorney
declining to prosecute
after he said campus police
only sent him a six-page summary
of Jane Doe's allegations,
which her attorney says
omitted her explicit allegation of rape.
We are learning exclusive details
about what the alleged Cornell rape victim
told campus police in 2024.
She says, quote, "I can say
with 100 percent confidence I was raped."
[Thomas] When she goes to CUPD
she was following the procedure.
She gave at least four
to five hours of testimony.
She also provided her medical records
from when she went to Cornell Health
two days after the assault.
And they had the group chat,
which invited members of the fraternity.
That prompted an investigation.
And she thought that investigation
was ongoing up until very recently.
She thought they were still investigating.
They were looking for evidence,
running down leads and all that stuff.
And what we know now
is that they closed the case
and they weren't doing anything.
I mean, just to think that an entire case
could be distilled down
to a six-page police report
and that's it, to me is just shocking.
And the one thing this case has taught us
is that while you might have
a great academic experience,
your safety
is not being looked after in the way
that I think most parents expect
when they drive their kids off to college
for the first day of freshman year.
My first reaction was
[grunts] "How disgusting."
"Not again," you feel like, "not again."
I went to Syracuse University.
There were a series of rapes
our first week on campus,
and there was
a sense of anxiety all around,
and you don't tell your parents that.
You don't call home and say,
"I'm a little worried walking to class."
It's not new,
it's been going on a long time,
and the culture has just never changed.
In this case, the scale of this, you know,
the number of people involved
and the repugnancy
of her allegations would have drawn you
to the local police department
fairly quickly.
Campus police, technically
they are deputized by the local police
to function as
a policing organization on a campus.
But one can very quickly see
that there could be a conflict
because you're also protecting
the reputation of your boss,
the university.
[male interviewer]
Is it your belief that Cornell's police
was influenced by conflict
of interest in this case?
No, I have no evidence of that.
And I'm not saying that
that was necessarily the case.
But in a situation like this,
you want to make sure
that people believe in the process.
If you go to the NYPD,
they're employees of the city of New York.
Um, the Cornell police is different
because they're employees
of Cornell University.
They're not independent.
They're employees.
[female interviewer] Does Jane Doe believe
that there is a conflict of interest?
I think Jane Doe does.
I think her family does.
And I certainly do.
I called the university president
and said, I want to have
an independent investigation.
I want outside counsel to look at
all the actions of the university.
When the Tompkins County District Attorney
announced that he is reopening the case,
he pointed to Jane Doe's statement
and said it did not establish
that a crime had occurred.
But new reporting raises serious questions
about the information
his office relied upon
when it made that decision.
That's why I believe this case demands
a special prosecutor
who will provide a fresh
and thorough review of all the facts,
including the information
that has recently come to light.
Prove to me and the public
and the campus and this young woman
that everything you did was correct.
[music concludes]
[Amanda] People will say, "Well,
why didn't law enforcement handle this?"
That's a great question.
Why didn't law enforcement handle this?
[soft dramatic music playing]
In truth, Jane Doe's experience
with law enforcement is the norm.
The rates of prosecution
are so incredibly low
because the burden of proof required
in a criminal prosecution is so high.
So there's also a world in which
there is a very real traumatic event
that a school can and should address.
And there's not a criminal prosecution
that's going to move forward.
And so another option is to bring forward
a formal complaint
with the university with Title IX.
Title IX is a civil rights law
and it applies to educational institutions
that receive federal funding
and it prohibits
discrimination based on sex.
It has applications in different areas,
admissions, athletics,
all forms of sexual harassment.
There was guidance issued
by the Obama administration.
Today we're taking another important step
with a focus on our college campuses.
[Amanda] It essentially said,
you have an obligation
to respond
to sexual assault under Title IX.
And the school's process
is not intended to decide,
did you violate the law?
It's intended to look at
whether you violated the school rules
that you agreed to
when you joined the school community.
This is not ever intended
to replace a criminal prosecution.
But despite the fact
that this is an educational process
it might be the only process
that a student survivor has to be heard.
We know Jane Doe did file
a Title IX complaint with the university.
But a lot of the details
of the Title IX investigation are private,
and so the university
is not allowed to share that.
If you were to ask the question
of what do we know
about the Title IX process
of Jane Doe two weeks ago,
-we would have no answer.
-[suspenseful music playing]
Tonight, The New York Times, obtaining
more than 1,000 pages of material
[Cereese] The New York Times obtained
the internal Cornell
Title IX investigation.
Photographs, texts, emails,
and interviews.
[female reporter 1]
According to The New York Times,
the school expelled
the two fraternity members
who first invited Jane Doe to that house.
[female reporter 2] Two more suspended.
One who had already graduated
was barred from campus.
Two were found not to be responsible
for sexual misconduct.
She wound up leaving the school
uh, while at least some of these young men
were apparently allowed to continue.
[Cereese] So many people
empathize with Jane Doe
and this case and this situation
opens a wound for them.
Common reaction is,
"This happened to me too."
[Kacey] I think actually
those would be in here.
-Oh, yeah, they're in here.
-[music concludes]
I I really haven't looked
at these in forever.
Hearing about Jane Doe,
it was very overwhelming.
I feel like I'm kind of having
to, like, re-grieve things
that I already grieved.
When I was going through my trial
and just after it happened,
I just felt a lot of inexplicable anger.
And I feel like I don't realize
I'm thinking something
until I'm writing it down.
Like, things felt a little bit
more real and less in my head.
-[somber music playing]
-Oh, my God, this one is about Title IX.
"Title IX
was one long gaslighting session."
[laughs]
[Kacey] "For a whole year,
I felt like I was screaming
into a crowd that couldn't hear me."
The day before my Title IX hearing
I was writing my victim impact statement.
I just didn't know what to say.
Maybe I'll read this paragraph.
"I communicated physically
and verbally and over text
that I did not want to do anything."
"I did not choose to get raped,
but I did experience the consequences."
This is every document
that was used or involved in my case.
I feel like this is a physical embodiment
of just me pleading
for people to believe me.
I was a freshman.
Two weeks after it happened
was when I decided to report.
The first person I worked with
was hired directly
by Cornell's Title IX office.
He was like, "So you can go to Title IX,
or you can go to the police,
or you cannot report."
But then immediately after,
he would list all these ways
going through Title IX was easier.
Obviously it's not easy no matter what,
but to the ears of a 19-year-old girl
who was very lost and hurt, and confused,
it was presented in a way
that Title IX looked like
it made the most sense.
My Title IX process was almost a year.
Some people just wait a year
to get a date for a hearing.
There's probably like,
26,000 students at Cornell.
And at the time
when I was going through the process,
there were two victim advocates.
They were spread so thin.
You don't know when your decision comes.
-It kind of just pops up in your email.
-[suspenseful music playing]
There's a link attached that says
you can download the verdict here.
The report said that they had
found him responsible for sexual assault.
And there was kind of like
this like sense of relief
that I was believed.
And then I got to the part
where there are the sanctions.
He had a written reprimand,
a no-contact order.
He was on disciplinary probation
for, it says a year,
but he graduated in two months.
So it in effect was two months.
And then he had to do
a directed study that involved
writing a reflection paper.
In my verdict,
the language for their rationale
was he didn't seem malicious.
I was hoping
he would get suspended or expelled.
You know, he gets to graduate.
He's gonna start his career
and he could just have remembered it as
a bad night, whereas I I don't get that.
I just felt like,
what did I do all of that for?
[music concludes]
[birds chirping]
I think what we have to acknowledge
is Title IX procedures are not intended
to make a survivor feel better.
-[dramatic music playing]
-[Amanda] Some people think
it is educational and that the sanctions
should be largely educational.
And so the process
is often unsatisfactory.
And so are nearly all systems
of accountability that victims go through.
I think if people are upset
by Cornell's response
in this particular case of Jane Doe,
then what they're truly upset
with is is with Title IX.
Because it does look
like, overall, Cornell complied
with the Title IX regulations.
And in fairness, the process
moved actually quite quickly
for one that involved
as many students as this.
From what I understand,
it was quite a robust investigation.
Multiple hearings, hundreds of pages
of evidence were gathered.
[female reporter] Cornell investigators
conducted more than 50 interviews
with 32 witnesses.
The fact that Cornell
expelled two students
and suspended two others
shows that they realized
that this was a big case
and that there was severe misconduct.
We don't see expulsions
as an outcome in a lot of cases.
So maybe the school did,
for the most part,
what it is required to do.
[students chattering]
I guess then the question is,
is is that enough?
-[students cheering]
-[male student] I think everyone here
has gotten a better education
of the Title IX process.
-The process sucks.
-[students cheering]
[male student]
The process is harmful for survivors.
[female reporter] Anger and backlash
are building at Cornell University.
[male reporter] Thousands of students,
faculty, and community members
demanding justice for Jane Doe.
[student protesters] Justice for Jane Doe!
Justice for Jane Doe!
-No justice!
-No peace!
-No justice!
-No peace!
[Jane] The general kind of
consensus among most
of the students is that,
"Oh, you know, you should file Title IX,
but don't expect much."
[female student] We at Cornell,
we say enough is enough,
and we demand justice for Jane Doe.
[cheering]
Hearing and reading Jane Doe's case
the last couple weeks,
it's like I knew Jane Doe's experiences
like all too well.
I was sexually assaulted on campus.
Seeing so many
different people come together,
it showed me that I wasn't alone.
[protesters cheering]
Justice for Jane Doe!
Every single person
has either experienced personally
or knows somebody
who's experienced something like this.
[Paul Ortiz] It's not just about Jane Doe.
It's about what happened
here five years ago, 20, 30 years ago.
Sexual assault is a perennial problem
at Cornell, and the students
and the faculty are asking,
"When is this going to stop?"
[protesters cheering]
[Jane] Our administration
can't just, you know,
only care about these issues
when it's something that
they feel pressure about.
They can't only be responding now
because they're under the pressure
of national news.
[protesters cheering]
Jane Doe felt really let down
by the university.
She didn't feel supported.
[dramatic music playing]
And so she wrote a letter to the faculty
about when the president
of her sorority spoke
to the president
of the university about it.
And his reaction,
instead of being concerned,
expressing any concern for for Jane was,
"Well, why didn't she go
to the police sooner?"
This was how he reacted back
then when it was a fresh issue
and he could have really done something.
He could have reached out
to the police to find out what's going on.
He could have reached out
to the district attorney
to find out what's going on.
But the fact is,
by his own admission,
he didn't do anything.
[female reporter] Michael Kotlikoff
telling the New York Times
he never followed up with her
or tried finding out
if the accused men had been punished.
Now, he's under heavy fire.
His institution is under heavy fire.
[female reporter] For the first time,
Kotlikoff offering a formal apology.
What happened to Jane Doe
in 2024 is deeply disturbing.
[female reporter]
Kotlikoff acknowledging missteps
in his administration's handling
of the case.
My heart aches when I think
of what she experienced.
The university president put out
a statement this morning.
It acknowledges what he calls
a deeply troubling culture of alcohol
and drug abuse on campus.
[Thomas] She thought this institution
was going to set her on a path
and fulfill her dream.
And instead it became her nightmare.
This is probably a first for her.
She's probably thrilled to be so admired.
You can't revoke consent
two years after that.
[Thomas] People said
a lot of nasty stuff online.
Regret over your horrendous behavior
is not rape.
She's gone through hell
for the last two years.
The last month has made that far worse.
She started getting texts.
Then she started getting threats.
And then I hear
there'd been a swatting event.
This person called the local police,
said that somebody
was being murdered in her house
and the police rolled up
with assault rifles.
Her father had to come out
and explain once again
to the SWAT team, "Hey,
she's Jane Doe and people
are calling in false reports."
There were guns put in her friend's face,
her brother's face, her father's face.
It's scary.
This has gone too far.
It's really gone too far.
It's a fucking mess.
There have been multiple people
online targeting random dudes
saying that they're secretly
one of the Cornell 7.
Dox all the motherfuckers
that were on that Snapchat fucking thread.
I've been doxxed, threatened
to be raped and killed, and my family.
-It's out of control.
-That's ridic--
The mob will ruin a man's name
because the mob just wants blood.
We all stand with Jane Doe,
but there's just been a huge pushback.
It's gotten scary.
That's why I'm not revealing my name.
I know people who are getting threats
who have no part of this.
People who are not in Greek life,
people who were not here two years ago.
And yet, because they're a Cornellian,
they're getting threatened.
And that's not right.
All of a sudden,
it went from the Cornell 7
to the Cornell 26,000.
We were all somehow complicit
in this failure by our administration.
[male reporter] Tonight, a drastic step
at Cornell University.
New fallout from the sexual assault
controversy at Cornell.
I just see my group chat
with my fraternity blow up.
People are freaking out.
People are angry.
Cornell University announcing
that it is now suspending
all fraternity social events
for the rest of the school year.
I threw my phone across the room.
I was livid.
People are upset that this happened.
Frustrated with
the administration's response.
Yes, there is some blame
to be put on fraternities.
Absolutely. Like, there's
no question about that.
There needs to be reform.
But why are we discussing
this two years later?
Why did the institutions
that were supposed to protect Jane Doe
and investigate Jane Doe's allegations
seem to all fail?
And why is that failure
being put on the fraternities?
[chattering]
[senior male student] This blanket ban
was all performative at the end of the day
because the parties are not ending.
They're just going elsewhere.
A blanket suspension
is not the way that you fix a cultural
or any sort of problem.
[music concludes]
[Amanda] We should all hear
this case and be horrified.
[somber music playing]
[Amanda] But it doesn't shock me.
I think about Emma
at Columbia and the performance art.
[Emma] I will be carrying
this dorm room mattress
with me everywhere I go for as long
as I attend
the same school as my rapist.
[female reporter] She lugged
that mattress across the stage
as the university president
turned away from her.
I think about Chanel Miller and the case
involving Brock Turner at Stanford.
[male reporter 1]
Where swimmer Brock Turner was convicted
of sexually assaulting a woman
while she lay unconscious.
[male reporter 2] Brock Turner was freed
after only serving three months
of a six-month sentence.
[Amanda] Obviously, the Me Too movement
had this incredible impact
on survivors coming forward
and telling their story.
The right to a life
[female student]
Thank you for your courage, Jane.
[protesters cheering]
[Amanda]
There are these spikes in attention
and we do take some steps forward,
but so often
the backlash puts us right back
to where we started.
-[protesters cheering]
-[dramatic music playing]
[Cereese] Oh, wait, what?
Is this to everyone?
[Sophia]
I love that people still send mail.
[Cereese] Guess this is pizza money?
[Sophia] Yeah, pizza for everyone.
-Wow.
-[Cereese] What?
She signed "Jane Doe."
This is so many different people.
Oh.
-They're, like, all Jane Does.
-[music concludes]
[Cereese] Despite several instances
of real, real negativity,
there has been so much support for us.
It really puts into perspective
what we're doing
and that our coverage is reaching people.
I don't think,
especially in the near future,
that we're going to revert back
to how it was at Cornell.
I don't know what is going to change,
but the momentum on campus
I don't think is something
that's going to die out.
[overlapping chatter]
[soft dramatic music playing]
[music concludes]
[theme music playing]
[music concludes]